The present invention is directed to a light waveguide and a coupling device which for each direction of transmission of signals has a receiving transducer module coupled by a regenerating amplifier to a transmitting transducer module.
When transferring signals via lines which extend between transmitting and receiving stations arranged at a considerable distance from one another, it is known to connect amplifier modules into the transmission path to compensate for attenuation that has occurred on the transmission path section up to the point of the relevant amplifier module. These regenerative amplifier modules are required both in the case of signals transmitted via copper conductors and also in cases of optical signal transmissions which are on light waveguides. However, with light waveguides and the optical signals transmitted thereon, special transducer modules are required in addition to the actual amplifier to convert the light signal into an electrical signal and then to reconvert the regenerated electrical signal back into light signals. One known device which fulfills these requirements is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,293 and the disclosure of that patent is incorporated herein by reference thereto. In this patent, the device includes an optical coupling module which serves to output-couple and input-couple a portion of the light signals out of and into the light waveguide as the case may be. The device also includes a receiver module which converts the optical signal into an electrical signal, an amplifier module for amplifying and regenerating the electrical signal and finally a transmitting module which serves to photoelectrically convert the regenerated electrical signal back into a light signal.
If an existing remote control system, which comprises a given number of stations such as six stations, is to be expanded by having the number of stations increased, the amount of work that will be necessary will depend upon the required location of the new station. For example, if the new station is to be added at the end of existing light waveguide, then the transmission or the light waveguide will be extended. However, if the new station is interposed between two existing stations, then the transmission or the light waveguide will need to be cut and the new station will be interposed between the cut ends of the light waveguide. If the new station is to be permanently linked into the remote control system, the outlay for the subsequent installation of the coupling assembly off-site and the operating obstacles represented by the division and subsequent assembly of the light waveguide may be tolerated. However, if the station or device is only to be temporarily linked into the existing remote control system operated via the waveguides, the outlay in respect to the necessary installation measures which in such case must take place off-site and the disadvantages produced by the operating obstacles cannot be readily justified. For this reason, in order to temporarily link a station or device to a remote control system, a special transmission channel, for example, a radio link, is frequently installed via which the station or device can be operated.